Tarleton State accepted into D1 confrence

[juniorvarsity]

10 hours ago, flyingcement said:

 

Weird. Why green light the facility?these administrators hardly need a good reason for anything they do.

[SNL Wrestling]

Super bummed about the loss of this program, before it even came. 

 

The money and atheltes and coaches were on campus, I do not understand how this could happen.

[Idaho]

Hmmm...wonder if there is more to this story than the "I heard" reporting. 

[SNL Wrestling]

4 minutes ago, Idaho said:

Hmmm...wonder if there is more to this story than the "I heard" reporting. 

Grant is planning to post a video soon. We will know the truth from the soure, but yes this has been on the table for some time and it seems like its finally becoming true.

[TNwrestling]

They cut the program and get a write-off on it all, while not having to buy out any contracts or honor any scholarship obligations. And since they just built the $1.3 million facility, they must declare a non-cash asset impairment. The unamortized book value of these facilities is essentially written off the institution's financial statements.

[CoachB]

 

1 hour ago, TNwrestling said:

They cut the program and get a write-off on it all, while not having to buy out any contracts or honor any scholarship obligations. And since they just built the $1.3 million facility, they must declare a non-cash asset impairment. The unamortized book value of these facilities is essentially written off the institution's financial statements.

Edited May 18 by CoachB

[Idaho]

 

[Idaho]

They were invited to a major conference. The paperwork has been on the president's desk for about 7 weeks. Very much a lie... Even Grant publicly announced their invitation.  Also, the entire program is not dropped as the rumor indicated. 

[MPhillips]

11 minutes ago, Idaho said:

Very much a lie..

Which part...

 

[Idaho]

11 minutes ago, MPhillips said:

Which part...

 

That they never received an invitation to a major conference.....they received an invitation to a major conference and the paperwork has been at the president's desk for nearly two months.  Grant announced the invitation on social.... Grant just posted that they have ignored it. 

[ionel]

5 minutes ago, Idaho said:

That they never received an invitation to a major conference.....they received an invitation to a major conference and the paperwork has been at the president's desk for nearly two months.  Grant announced the invitation on social.... Grant just posted that they have ignored it. 

Sometimes this "social" thing is not accurate.  

[Idaho]

 

Technically an official invitation cannot be given out by a conference if they have not been approved for D1 status...however the invitation is there to join the Pac12 contingent on D1 status approval. Yes, Grant did announce their invitation to join a conference. He was also assured on several instances that the team was moving toward that. Another CBU situation with admin playing games.

[ionel]

44 minutes ago, Idaho said:

 

Technically an official invitation cannot be given out by a conference if they have not been approved for D1 status...however the invitation is there to join the Pac12 contingent on D1 status approval. Yes, Grant did announce their invitation to join a conference. He was also assured on several instances that the team was moving toward that. Another CBU situation with admin playing games.

Why would he announce said invite if it was sitting on the president's desk?  Not a good thing to do in a university environment especially if in a volunteer position.  

[MoveCountermove]

13 hours ago, ionel said:

Sometimes this "social" thing is not accurate.  

Always accurate if it’s Truth Social…amirite?!

[JWC]

4 hours ago, MoveCountermove said:

Always accurate if it’s Truth Social…amirite?!

[ionel]

11 hours ago, MoveCountermove said:

amirite?!

nononotatall 

[manatree]

On 5/18/2026 at 10:19 AM, SNL Wrestling said:

Super bummed about the loss of this program, before it even came. 

 

The money and atheltes and coaches were on campus, I do not understand how this could happen.

 

Are you sure the money was actually there or just promised? It wouldn’t be the first time that a donor did not donate all that they promised. 

[1032004]

12 hours ago, manatree said:

 

Are you sure the money was actually there or just promised? It wouldn’t be the first time that a donor did not donate all that they promised. 

Based on the recent statements, it sounds like most of the money they did get was from one guy. 

Leeth did post this two months ago.  Seems like he’s now acknowledging it was never actually an official acceptance.  And even if they did actually get accepted, wouldn’t it be like a three year transition?  Did guys on the team currently think they’d actually be wrestling D1 as early as next year?

 

Edited May 20 by 1032004

[juniorvarsity]

45 minutes ago, 1032004 said:

Based on the recent statements, it sounds like most of the money they did get was from one guy. 

Leeth did post this two months ago.  Seems like he’s now acknowledging it was never actually an official acceptance.  And even if they did actually get accepted, wouldn’t it be like a three year transition?  Did guys on the team currently think they’d actually be wrestling D1 as early as next year?

 

With my very limited understanding of these types of situations, I do not believe Tarleton would be put in that 3 year waiting period because they are already Division 1 in all other sports. The school moved from D2 to D1 in 2024. 

[gimpeltf]

I have no inside info here. I don't know Leeth.

Conferences would never officially approach a school without a varsity program. The coach would not be the first rep to be officially approached. I doubt the coach pulled this completely out of thin air but I also doubt it was more than an informal chat with other coaches. The official decisions are made by the ADs and admin (Prez, VP, etc) of all schools involved. When Morgan State asked to join the EIWA a couple years back it had to be ratified by the admin even if the coaches talked first. And the EIWA is likely easier to get this done since it's not an all sports conference.

[1032004]

11 minutes ago, gimpeltf said:

I have no inside info here. I don't know Leeth.

Conferences would never officially approach a school without a varsity program. The coach would not be the first rep to be officially approached. I doubt the coach pulled this completely out of thin air but I also doubt it was more than an informal chat with other coaches. The official decisions are made by the ADs and admin (Prez, VP, etc) of all schools involved. When Morgan State asked to join the EIWA a couple years back it had to be ratified by the admin even if the coaches talked first. And the EIWA is likely easier to get this done since it's not an all sports conference.

Leeth is now saying something to the effect of “the conference coaches voted to add them.”  Do coaches of the other schools even have any say?

[gimpeltf]

7 hours ago, 1032004 said:

Leeth is now saying something to the effect of “the conference coaches voted to add them.”  Do coaches of the other schools even have any say?

Sure, but the final and official say is above them. And again, I suspect this wouldn't have been anything at all official since they aren't varsity. Just the coaches seeing what they all felt like.

[1032004]

Good interview 

 

 

[MethaneMan]

On 5/18/2026 at 10:18 AM, TNwrestling said:

They cut the program and get a write-off on it all, while not having to buy out any contracts or honor any scholarship obligations. And since they just built the $1.3 million facility, they must declare a non-cash asset impairment. The unamortized book value of these facilities is essentially written off the institution's financial statements.

This is untrue. The wrestling facility was not owned or operated by Tarleton State University. It was bought and paid for by the major donor, Al Rodgers. It is his property. As well, there was no program to cut. It was and remains in club status. Meet member thresholds and pay the $250 fee to maintain club status and you are a club.

[Idaho]

2 hours ago, 1032004 said:

Good interview 

 

 

Yep - Explains it all .... good on Leeth for not releasing the statement that Tarleton wrote for him. The club continues on with Dalton Roberts.